This document relates to architectural drawings, and more particularly to a transparent overlay for architectural drawings of plans, to provide users of such architectural drawings accurate references via the transparent overlay.
In an initial design, architects create architectural drawings to develop, explore, and communicate ideas and solutions. The creation of the architectural drawings involves recording ideas, recognizing functions, and finding new forms and adapting them into an architectural design. Thus, an architectural drawing enables communication between two or more users (e.g. a designer and a foreman). Furthermore, the architectural drawing also helps designers to see and understand the design they work with.
The architectural drawings may be any one of presentation drawings, survey drawings, record drawings, working drawings, drafts by drafters, architectural reprographics, computer aided architectural drawings, sketches and blueprints. An exemplary architectural drawing is shown in FIG. 1.
The architectural drawings may represent a plan, such as a floor plan, a site plan, or other drawing, such as an elevation, isometric and axonometric projections, and detail drawings. The floor plan is a horizontal section cut through a structure (building). The horizontal section cut may show walls, windows, doors, other openings and other features at a particular level of the building. Geometrically, the floor plan is defined as a vertical orthographic projection of an object on a horizontal plane, with the horizontal plane horizontally cutting through the building. The site plan shows the whole context of a building or a group of buildings. It may show the already existing buildings as well as the proposed buildings. Within a site boundary, the site plan presents buildings (if any) already existing and those that are proposed, usually as a building footprint; roads, parking lots, footpaths, hard landscaping, trees and planting. The elevation is a front view of the building i.e. a view of the building seen from a side. The isometric and axonometric projections are simple ways of representing a three dimensional object. Detail drawings characterize a small part of a construction project at a larger scale, and often illustrate how the various components of the architectural drawing fit together.
Often times, the architectural drawings and the sketches need to be altered. The alteration in the architectural drawings includes moving objects in the architectural drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates objects 102, 104, 106 and 108 that need to be identified for a number of reasons: work needs to be performed in proximity of the objects 102, 104, 106. The removal of these objects alters the architectural drawing. In other examples, a wall may need to be moved in the architectural drawing. The movement of the objects may be due to a personal preference, or due to structural design requirements.
However, when the architectural drawings are altered, the alterations need to be communicated to other people in possession with the architectural drawing, and who may not be in geographical proximity to each other. For example, if a particular wall needs to be moved, two or more people viewing identical architectural drawings may need to locate that particular wall accurately. The communication is not easy, as the alterations need to be perceived by the receivers of the alterations in an identical way. Therefore, it is hard to know whether two people looking at separate but identical architectural drawings perceive the location of objects in the architectural drawing in the same way. The first of the two people may be the structural designer, and the second of the two people may be a foreman or any other person. There may be more than two people trying to perceive identical architectural drawings.
Difference in perceptions by different people about identical architectural drawings can lead to unwanted costs and wasted of time. For example, when the suggested alterations by the structural designer are inaccurately perceived by the foreman, unwanted monetary and time loss may occur. The alterations incur materials costs, such as amount location of pipes, etc. The loss may include fines, penalties, wastage of employee time, and additional costs.
Furthermore, at times, the architectural drawings may not have a scale (e.g. linear scale representing how much distance is represented by a fixed unit of distance on the architectural drawing) displayed with the architectural drawing, even if the architectural drawings are made according to scale. Communication of alterations on such architectural drawings can lead to further communication errors.
The alterations need to be specified specifically with respect to a reference point. The reference point may be changed as per the convenience of the people using the architectural drawing. During the communication, a fixed reference point and the specific alterations need to be communicated to ensure collaboration between the different parties involved with creating and using the altered architectural drawing. The specific alterations may include the specific coordinates of the alteration. Examples of specific alterations are illustrated by objects 102, 104, 106 and 108 in FIG. 1. Therefore, there is a need to have a grid on a transparent overlay to accurately represent where the alterations are made or need to be made on the architectural drawing.